Salesforce Certified Associate Practice Exam 2025 - Free Salesforce Associate Exam Practice Questions and Study Guide

Profiles are essential for determining the level of access a user has to different objects within Salesforce. Each user is assigned a profile that defines their permissions, access rights, and various settings. This includes the ability to read, create, edit, and delete records for specific objects in the database. Profiles also control access to applications and features, as well as field-level security, which ensures that users can only see and interact with information pertinent to their role and responsibilities.

While sharing sets, roles, and permission sets also play significant roles in the access control model within Salesforce, they serve different purposes. Sharing sets are primarily used in the context of sharing rules for groups of users, enhancing record visibility based on public groups and criteria. Roles define the hierarchy of data access and visibility but do not dictate what actions a user can take on those objects. Permission sets extend access beyond what is defined in profiles without changing the profile itself but still rely on the foundational access established by profiles. Thus, profiles are the primary feature that determines the baseline access for users concerning different objects.